


Hurricane's Eye

by Immicolia



Series: Past Meeting AU [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 02:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15133451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immicolia/pseuds/Immicolia
Summary: There are very few moments to breathe between trying to decide how to deal with what Zaizen knows and the problems Hanoi cause. Shoichi takes them where he can.





	Hurricane's Eye

**Author's Note:**

> After a brief diversion with my writing an incredibly self-indulgent far flung future piece of this AU we now return to my previously scheduled "actually writing this nonsense in order".

The moment Zaizen is safely gone Shoichi closes up the truck. All the afternoons he's spending shut down are costing him but this is too serious to leave until later. Once he's safely sequestered in front of the blue-white glow of the monitors he begins to go over the contents of the chip Zaizen gave him. First an in-depth check to make sure that there aren't nasty surprises buried among the files that might give SOL access to his system, then he moves on to the files themselves.

He'd thought that maybe Zaizen would hold something back, give Shoichi only the barest of details, but as he lets the comparison run it becomes more and more obvious that Zaizen had simply handed over the entirety of the files related to the Lost Incident, his brow furrowing in disbelief as he flips from one to the other.

It's curious, why Zaizen would hand over everything to someone who might not have been involved at all. Clearly the man had his suspicions (and Shoichi had played right into verifying those suspicions) but there had always been the possibility of being wrong. Of handing over sensitive information to someone who very well may have no idea or connection at all to the incident in question.

It's a risk that he can't quite make sense of. Why did Zaizen take it? Why did he even remember him at all?

A sigh slips past his lips as he pushes those unanswerable questions aside and moves on. If there's one statement made during their conversation that Zaizen was absolutely right about, it's the fact that Shoichi has only gotten better at cracking into places he shouldn't be. It only takes a little under an hour to track down Zaizen's spending habits; which is a mixture of surprisingly frugal and disgustingly extravagant when it comes to purchases that Shoichi assumes must be for the man's sister.

The important part is that he finds a string of transactions at Ace, usually one or two a week and mostly on Thursdays.

Not that he's going to do anything with this information. He has no intention of taking Zaizen up on his invitation. If anything he dug up the information for the purpose of _avoiding_ Zaizen if he ever decides to pop in to the place. Which he might. It's a bit of a surprise to find that it's even still open and it would certainly be nice to see Aya-san again.

He files it all quietly away in the back of his mind. Still deep in thought when the back door of the truck swings open and Yusaku hops inside, pausing just long enough to tuck his school bag into the corner before sinking into the chair next to him.

"You leave Ai at home?"

"Yes. He's a distraction and absolutely no help. Have you had any time to go over the files some more?"

"Not really." For a moment he hesitates and briefly considers keeping Zaizen's sudden appearance to himself before casting that thought aside. Nothing good will come of hiding things. They're a team, after all. "We've got a bigger problem right now."

"What is it?"

"Zaizen showed up."

"Here? Why? He hasn't--?"

Shoichi shakes his head before Yusaku can finish the last question. "It's-- complicated. He and I met a handful of times years ago. _Ten_ years ago." He stresses the time frame and as expected Yusaku gives a barely perceptible nod. He may have never told Yusaku about his excursions while Jin was missing, but as expected the boy immediately understands. "I still don't know how he even remembered me."

Yusaku's expression is as impassive as always but there's a faint edge to his voice as he asks, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It never seemed important. I wouldn't have remembered him myself if he wasn't working for SOL right now." He shoots a reassuring smile in Yusaku's direction. "That's not the part that matters anyway. Why he showed up is."

With one smooth motion Shoichi ejects the chip Zaizen gave him from the slot it had been plugged into and holds it up, something that causes a slight frown to crease Yusaku's brow as he eyes it suspiciously.

"What's that?"

"Files on the Lost Incident, exactly the same as the ones we stole." He plugs the chip back in and opens the two sets of files side by side. "It's not everything we took, Ai grabbed a few extra things when he was in there while Zaizen only gave me what was directly related to the Lost Incident but...." He shrugs, feeling just as a confused and helpless as he did the moment Zaizen handed it all over.

"But why?"

"He said it's because he promised me that if he ever found out anything about what happened to Jin he'd let me know."

"And you buy that?"

"No. Not completely. It may be part of it, but he was definitely suspicious of me. I don't know why, maybe he just had a hunch and decided to poke at me for the hell of it, but he was definitely fishing."

"Did he find out anything?"

Shoichi is silent for a moment, not quite wanting to answer. Not wanting to admit how easily he cracked and snapped at Zaizen and ultimately gave far too much away. Almost flinching when Yusaku asks, "Kusanagi-san?" his voice low and worried.

"He figured out I'm helping Playmaker," Shoichi eventually murmurs, scrubbing a hand down his face. Trying his best to smile reassuringly at Yusaku, although he's well aware that he's doing a bad job of it solely by how absolutely stiff and awkward his face feels with the attempt. "Sorry about that."

Yusaku frowns, his eyes fixed firmly on the console in front of him. "So what do we do?"

"What can we do? We keep going. Zaizen claims he's not interested in finding out your identity and he's not in charge of SOL's security anymore. All we can do is hope that he means it."

Yusaku goes still and quiet, clearly considering Shoichi's words and weighing every option he can think of before finally giving a slow nod of agreement.

"At the very least, the threat he might pose is a fairly visible one. Ultimately SOL is mostly an inconvenience next to Hanoi.

Despite the unease Zaizen's sudden appearance filled him with, a wry grin touches Shoichi's lips at that. "I don't know if I'd undersell them that hard myself, but you're not entirely wrong."

 

For the next few days things are strangely quiet. The days are spent hunting for clues, and at night he actually has enough downtime to almost get a whole five hours worth of sleep.

It's on one of those nights, after he's dropped Yusaku off at home, that Shoichi heads out to Ace on a whim. Well aware that he absolutely has other things he should be doing. There have been suspicious murmurings in various corners of the network about people who seem to be unable to leave VR, but with so little to go on all he can really do is leave automatic searches running and gather up what information he can.

A brief breather to clear his head, that's what he needs. A moment to relax and unwind and come back to the problem at hand with fresh eyes.

He can't be quite sure if Ace is exactly as it was ten years ago. The memories he has of it are strange and faded; a half-real oasis in the midst of night after night of desperate searching. It's still dimly lit and mostly empty. Aya is as lovely as ever, although the lines around her eyes are a bit more pronounced when she smiles and says, "Oh my goodness. Kusanagi-kun?"

"I'm surprised you recognized me."

"I was told you might show up." She glances towards one of the patrons sitting at the bar itself and as it sinks in just who is sitting there Shoichi is tempted to turn around and leave.

Zaizen's expression is unreadable as he glances towards Shoichi before turning back to his drink.

An annoyed sigh slips though Shoichi's lips and despite himself he sits next to Zaizen. Unable to stop the question that comes next, "Have you been coming here every night _waiting_ for me to show up."

A faint smile touches Zaizen's lips at that. "My schedule has changed some since my demotion. I have a lot more free time."

"And trust me I thought about that when I decided on when to show up."

Zaizen's finger taps idly against the rim of his glass before he abruptly changes the subject. "I'm just here to unwind. I assume you are too since you don't appear to be happy to find me here."

"Suspicious is the best word I have for it."

Zaizen shrugs and they both fall silent. Shoichi tempted to accuse him of any number of things and not knowing where to start. Unwillingly reminded of nights all those years ago when he would sit on damn near this exact same stool, exhausted and hating everything and those few times Zaizen was in the room too he'd simply sit and glare.

"As wired in as you are," Zaizen begins, his carefully measured voice cutting into Shoichi's tangled thoughts. "I'm sure you've seen mention of the Another cases."

Shoichi's pulse jumps, a faint spike of adrenaline that leaves him feeling more annoyed than combative. "Quit fishing and spit it out, Zaizen. I'm not involved, if that's what you're thinking." Adding, "Neither is Playmaker," after a moment.

"I don't think you're directly involved, but considering it's likely Hanoi are the ones doing it you're probably a catalyst."

"And what do you expect me to do about it?" Shoichi snaps back. A question that Zaizen momentarily considers before he shrugs and gets to his feet.

"That's up to you. I was just wondering if you knew."

Then he's walking away and Shoichi glares after him, idly wondering if things are currently quiet enough that he can risk one night to get absolutely, mind numbingly, drunk.

 

After that night things come to a head so quickly Shoichi still can't quite believe it. The Another problem gets worse, Hanoi tears their way through Link Vrains like they own it, Shoichi doesn't sleep for days on end.

(Yusaku is concerned about that but Shoichi insists he's taking naps and doesn't breathe a word about the pills he sometimes takes. They're not entirely legal, but nothing he does anymore is entirely legal.)

Then it seems to end, although the relative quiet this time isn't quite the same as the one before. This is more what Shoichi imagines the eye of a hurricane is like. The storm is still there, all around them, they've simply been given a brief reprieve. A moment to suck in a quick breath and wonder when it will all start again, because Revolver is still out there and it will never be over until he is stopped.

He pops into Ace once during that brief span of a few days although that time Zaizen isn't there and Shoichi can't decide if he's happy about that fact or not.

 

When the peace finally shatters it snaps with the violence of a spring that has been pulled taut returning to its original shape. Yusaku heads into Link Vrains to follow up on a suspicious ping and not even an hour later Hanoi's plans have crystallized into one devastating monument to destruction.

Shoichi has never felt more useless and absolutely helpless than he has when the Tower began to form.

Or maybe that's not entirely true. There have been two other times: the day Jin was taken and the day it became clear that when Jin came home he came home broken. Those two moments are carved onto his heart and mind and remind him of how ultimately helpless and useless he is in the grand scheme of things. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't save his brother.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get revenge on his own.

No matter how hard he tried, he was absolutely worthless to Yusaku in the long run. He couldn't do anything beyond stare numbly at the bank of screens in front of him and hope.

He couldn't even pull a (relatively) innocent man out of danger so Yusaku could keep his mind on the matter at hand. Zaizen was a prick, sure, but there was no way he could let him be used as a bargaining chip. For Yusaku's sake at the very least.

So he tried. He tried his damnedest and came up short. Whatever the hell kind of block Hanoi had in place was better than any kind of emergency exit Shoichi could come up with on the fly.

The one thing, the _only_ thing he could have done to make himself useful and he failed.

He doesn't even want to think about what could have happened if Zaizen had been a different kind of person and hadn't been willing to die. All he can do is be thankful that it's over.

The storm finished passing over him and he's somehow still standing.


End file.
